1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for injecting exotic atoms into a solid with electron beams (injection of atoms induced with electron beams) in the fields of material engineering and electron beam engineering.
2. Background of the Art
In the field of material engineering, various composite materials have been developed in search of high additional value for materials having new functions and conventional materials.
Conventional methods producing the composite materials are classified roughly as follows:
(I) The composite materials are obtained by joining of independent materials by any method (welding, electrodeposition, thermal diffusion, adhesives or these combinations).
(II) The composite materials are obtained by heat-treating or mechanical treating alloys of two phases or multiple phases.
(III) Ions are implanted into a material with ion beams.
(IV) Exotic atoms added to the surface of materials are injected into the materials by beam-annealing while electron beams or laser beams are used as a heat source.
In the method of (I), it is generally difficult to obtain an intersurface which joins properly. As a result, the characteristic properties of the joined interface are not controllable. Therefore, the production of composite materials having a super fine structure of about 1-10 nm.phi. is impossible. These disadvantages are inevitable.
In the method of (II), as alloy phases which are stable or stable to some extent in an equilibrium state are used, it is difficult to develop materials having epochal functions. Further, it is difficult to control optionally the dimension, numbers and conditions of distribution of deposit phases.
In the method of (III), there are some disadvantages accompanied with ion beams: shallow implantation depth of exotic atoms, large damage of materials irradiated with ion beams, difficulty of control of dimensions of mixed phase regions, etc.
In the method of (IV), there are also some disadvantages. For example, it is difficult to control dimensions of mixed phase regions and distribution of concentration of surface, and heat distortion of the surface is great, etc.